At an elevation of over 14,000 feet Mt. Rainier is a dominating presence. On a clear day we can see it from our condo in downtown Seattle, 60 miles away. Folks in this neck of the woods refer to it simply as “the mountain” and weather is often described as a function of the mountain being “out” or not. Two weeks ago we decided to hike the Paradise section of Mt. Rainier to capture the wildflowers which bloom in August, after the snow melts. Up before dawn, we started the climb in the dark to capture the early light. It was a wonderful hike, one of the most beautiful I have ever experienced. And we were in the fields of flowers when the sun came up. Here is what we saw:

The next morning we greeted dawn at reflection lake:

Finally, the waterfalls, tiny in comparison to the mountain. Here is my favorite waterfall picture. Decided to go for a completely different effect here by processing in black and white.

The Palouse, located in southeastern Washington and extending into Idaho and Oregon, looks like the waves of an ocean frozen in time. In fact, the area was formed by waves of volcanic basalt followed by massive floods and then the gradual accumulation of ash and soil blown in from elsewhere – a process that took millions of years.

Today the Palouse is a pastoral setting that is often compared to Tuscany. The rolling hills are covered primarily in wheat that contributes to the velvety look of the hills.

Last weekend we visited the Palouse for the first time with some photographer friends. Here are a few of the images from that trip.

About an hour north of Seattle the Skagit Valley is home to the largest grower of bulb flowers in the United States. Every April the fields explode with color and the roadsides explode with tourists.

We go early – to avoid the crowds and to get the best light. Last year I tried to get a different perspective by shooting up with a wide-angle lens. Thought it was pretty good until several months later when I arrived at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam and saw its clone everywhere. Turns out I had produced a cliché.

This year was hazy and overcast so I decided to try some really tight shots. Focus on individual flowers. Very abstract.

But my favorite shot of the trip was the one I took last of an old barn. This one feels like a dreamscape to me with the post in the foreground in sharp focus while the rest is just a blur.

You know the problem. You go to a beautiful, often photographed place, and start shooting. It’s fun. Your images look just like every image you’ve ever seen of the place. That part is frustrating. Question is: how do you make an iconic place your own? We recently spent several days at Cannon Beach in Oregon. The first image below is pretty straightforward. The weather was blustery – pretty typical for this time of year.

So I decided to try a couple of different things. Another day, better weather, lots of color with a strong foreground component.

Finally I decided to try fiddling with an image after the fact to make it look like it might have been shot years ago.

Same beach, same weekend, three different ways of feeling about it. Which do you think works best?